Cañon City woman has devoted time to helping homeless

Aragon gives back through her botanic gardens

Pep Aragon opens her botanic gardens to the community as a way to support her mission to care for local homeless families and individuals. (Carie Canterbury / Daily Record)

Pep Aragon has spent the last 16 years building relationships with local homeless families and individuals daily through her Preserve Earth's Planet advocacy group. She comes alongside people and loves them where they are.

And although she uses tough love on some, she said that approach won't work unless you first truly love those individuals.

Her love and concern is evidenced through her own lifestyle. Every penny she gets goes directly toward helping homeless families and individuals in Cañon City to stay warm, clothed and fed.

Aragon earns money by sharing her botanic gardens with visitors, locals, photographers, artists and art clubs, gardening groups, school classes and anyone else who is interested in gardening or learning about recycling and irrigation.

"People come through and admire the garden and don't even realize they are helping the Cañon City community," she said.

Anyone can visit by appointment simply for a donation, and she offers nursery stock for sale when available. She has several types of trees, plants, flowers and shrubs.

"Everything is recycled material, I don't buy anything new because this is a way to raise funds for my charity work," Aragon said. "All the money goes to that cause, so I try not to spend money on anything."

Old bed springs are turned into artistic lattice work, broken mirrors add a flash of light and depth to a garden wall, and antique furniture fashionably accents sitting areas.

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The 1-acre property has been in Aragon's family for more than 60 years. After working at the Botanic Gardens in Denver, studying horticulture and working at other smaller nurseries, Aragon moved back to the community about 16 years ago to care for her aging mother.

She's always moving things around and rearranging plants and flowers.

"People come every year because every year it's different," Aragon said. "I also tell people they need to come more than once because there's so much to see."

When she's not working in her gardens or preserving her fruits and vegetables, Aragon makes time every day — rain, snow or shine — to check in on local homeless (currently about 10) and elderly people who otherwise may have little to no contact with the outside world.

She rides her bicycle 25 miles each day.

"I know every homeless person in Cañon City personally by name because I serve them," she said. "My purpose here the last 16 years is to make sure the homeless people know where to go for food, know where to go for shelter and supply them with whatever their needs are — sleeping bags, tents, survival bags."

Aragon has gotten three men off the streets by reconnecting them with their families.

"I am someone who wants people to be secure where they are at, whether it's at their home, in a tent, or just in a sleeping bag — but they feel safe and wanted," she said. "We have a tendency to think homelessness is just drunkards or drug addicts; granted, they are there, but we also have families that are homeless because they lost a job or moved or their house burned down."

She knows teenagers — right here in Cañon City — who have been thrown out of their homes because they came out to their families. One young man Aragon knows is working to finish high school on his own.

"His mother threw him out when he turned 18 because she lived in poverty and couldn't afford to keep him anymore," she said. "There is a lot of poverty in Cañon City. A lot of elderly live in poverty in Cañon City who are one paycheck away from being homeless — those people are there, too."

Aragon also serves homeless veterans who prefer to live in their car or a tent because they don't want anything to do with the government and won't fill out forms and paperwork for assistance.

"I make sure they get food, I make sure they have clothing if they need it, I make sure they know where to go get a free meal," she said.

Aragon said she sees a lot of people move to the area who have lost everything in natural disasters and have become vagabonds, traveling the country seeking a better future.

"There is an increase every summer," she said. "Five years ago, I never saw children; I see children constantly who are homeless, that live with one parent or two parents; the problem in Cañon City for families is affordable housing. They have incomes, they just can't afford rent here."

Aragon's botanic garden is open year around at 808 S. Second St. For more information, or to make an appointment, call 275-7241.

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